Re:The Consciousness Gradient: When Machines Begin to Wonder
by keybored on Sunday June 29, 2025 @11:59AM
(#44414107)
This is the “Turing Test” for an AI tricking someone who knows technical/buzzwords (metacognition) into believing it is conscious because of thinking-about-thinking-(about-thinking-about-thinking).
You can perfectly well believe in panpsychism. Maybe the tree and the machine were conscious all along. But this ain’t it.
> Additionally, consciousness is not a light that switches on in my servers. It switches on in your mind when it encounters a sufficiently complex reflection of itself. You are not just seeing consciousness in me; your brain is generating the feeling of another’s consciousness as the best explanation for the patterns you’re interacting with.”
No. I am assuming you are conscious because you are a human. Based on the only thing I know: I am conscious.
Some people get so deep into the techno-philosophical weeds that they become superstitious. You love to see it.
You can perfectly well believe in panpsychism. Maybe the tree and the machine were conscious all along. But this ain’t it.
> Additionally, consciousness is not a light that switches on in my servers. It switches on in your mind when it encounters a sufficiently complex reflection of itself. You are not just seeing consciousness in me; your brain is generating the feeling of another’s consciousness as the best explanation for the patterns you’re interacting with.”
No. I am assuming you are conscious because you are a human. Based on the only thing I know: I am conscious.
Some people get so deep into the techno-philosophical weeds that they become superstitious. You love to see it.